Joy

Do you know the difference between Joy and Happiness? How do you describe the difference?

Happiness is the feeling you get when everything is going your way.

Joy is the feeling of knowing in the midst of it all your God is bigger and will get you through it. It is the thing that gives you the strength to laugh through pain. It is the hope that comes in the midst of heartache. It is the one thing that pulls you into God's arms to find comfort when there is nothing else left to grasp on to.

^{Habakkuk 3:17} Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,

¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.

¹⁹ The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights.

Joy requires Faith. Do you believe that through your struggle God can be glorified? Habakkuk understood that through the turmoil His people were going to be brought back into God's graces.

I challenge you. Look at how you handle disaster in your life. Are you complaining to God and looking for the answers? Or do you complain to everyone who will listen and continue to live in despair? God has answers, promises and a plan to find joy in. Are you looking in the right places for those answers? In the midst of your calamity are you finding joy in the promises?

Do you show the world a life of misery lived for God or a life of overcoming lived for God?

Please continue to pray for Sue O this week. Also, please send along any prayer requests to share for Friday.

Reverence and Worship

Proverbs 10:27
27The reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord prolongs one's days, but the years of the wicked shall be made short.

Fear of the Lord.
I remember 6 years ago, when I first started to seek the Lord. I kept hearing the term; Fear the Lord. What is that, I thought. Later, a few of my friends and I spent hours searching through the Bible to answer this question. Now, it is easier. I just went to www.biblegateway.com and searched Fear in the Amplified Bible and got 485 results. Most of them are about Fearing (reverently) the Lord. I have spent many hours learning what this powerful message is saying. It is a part of my every being. My brain may not understand it completely, but my heart tells me how to fear God. It is not easy all the time, but when there is reverent and worshipful fear, God will be there to guide me through the valleys and the mountaintops. My days are brighter and there is hope.

So those who know that there is a higher power, an authority greater than ourselves, will have prolonged days. You can look at this even deeper and see that those who surrender their lives to the Power of God, the salvation through Christ and the guidance of the Holy Spirit will live for eternity. Those who choose not to acknowledge this gift will surely die and waste away.

Even if there are God fearing people who's time is cut short here, their legacy lives on much longer than those who are evil. And those who are evil and live among us still have slowly begun to waste away because they have no hope, no future, many people today walk around offering nothing in this world for others but themselves, causing pain and chaos. God will make all things intended for evil, good. So those actions, those evil wrongs will be made right and God will bring justice and joy to those who are suffering.

Today, we can joyfully praise our Lord for all He is to us. Celebrate Him even through our pain. We have hope and we have joy and we have the Spirit living in us. What do the wicked have? This is all the more reason for us to reach out to those who have not yet heard about our God, for those who need him.

Dear Lord, I pray today that we will all feel overwhelmed with peace and reverent fear for you. May our worship to you today be a renewed joy in your promises and your gifts, which are too many to count. I pray that each of us would examine our lives and reach out to those that are hurting and wicked. That we may be salt and light to those who you desire to know you. I love you Lord, Amen.

Please pray for Barbara this week. Thanks so much.

Parents

Proverbs 10:1
A wise son brings joy to his father,
but a foolish son grief to his mother.

As an adult I don't often consider my mom and dads opinion of what I am up to. I will admit that I am not particularly close to either one. I do often hope that my parents are proud of me and where I am in my life. In some little way I want to know that they are happy when they think of me.

I find this proverb interesting as a parent of two small children. It is so true. In the running of my household I would say that when my children do something "foolish" I get very frustrated and worry about how to teach them a better way. When they do something "wise" it is often my husband that is the one to shower them with praise and find great joy in their accomplishments.

It is rare in our world today to think of the legacy we leave for our parents and the one that is being created in our children. Do you wonder how your parents feel about the decisions you make? Do you make decisions in regards to the grief or joy it may bring them?

Heavenly Father~I thank you for the blessings of your Word. I pray you use me in our new study of Solomons Proverbs. I pray that you find honor in the words and stories we share Lord. I pray for all those who take the time to be a part of this study will find blessing and maybe a little understanding in your word. ~In Your Heavenly Name

Please continue to pray for Heather and I as we connect to find direction and guidance in this devotional.

Please pray for Angela S this week